The present disclosure relates to polymeric materials including hexahydrotriazine or hemiaminal moieties, and more specifically to polyhemiaminals and polyhexahydrotriazines.
Commercially important nitrogen-containing polymers include polyamides (nylon), polyimides (Kaplon, UPILEX, VTEC), and polyamines. Between these three classes of materials, nitrogen-rich polymers have applications in adhesives, semiconductors, automotive components, electronics, sporting goods, coatings, bottles, foams, yarns, plumbing parts, paints, and hospital equipment, to name a few. Though widely used, nitrogen-containing polymers can be flexible, hygroscopic materials sensitive to acids, bases and oxidants, which prevents their use in other applications.
In general, highly crosslinked, non-linear polymers are more difficult to process into films and fibers than more linear polymers that are not highly crosslinked. A need exists for chemically resistant nitrogen-containing polymers that have high rigidity and high tensile strength, but are processable into films and fibers.